Ready, Set, Game!
by paper jam
Summary: When he arrived and beat her sorry derrière, everyone knew things would never be the same. It’s an all out match and the 2 competitors have no plans of giving up, even if it means destroying any chances of a beautiful relationship. [AU]
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Card Captor Sakura. Story, characters and such are solely owned by the wonderful, talented and beautiful women of CLAMP, namely Tsubaki Nekoi, Ageha Ohkawa, Satsuki Igarashi, and Mokona. I love them so. The CCS manga series in Japan was published by Kodansha.

**Ready, Set, Game!**  
By: Ya-kun

**Summary**: Are guys really better than girls in sports? Forcefully erasing this belief by proving herself repeatedly, the queen of sports is deemed invincible. Well, that is, until a guy arrived and beat her sorry derrière. It's an all out match and the 2 competitors have no plans of giving up, even if it means destroying any chances of a beautiful relationship. Let the games begin!

* * *

**PROLOGUE**

"_Running with all her speed, contender number thirteen barely missed a beat as she caught up with her opponent. The crowd cheered as she jumped over the highest hurdle in the whole race with ease. Perspiration, which gleamed in the harsh sunlight, coated her body like a second skin as she breathed heavily. She could do this. Everyone knew she could. Like straining against the impossible, she broke into a sprint at the last minute."_

_As stated in the Tomoeda history books, the queen of sports won first place at last year's Tomoeda Long Hurdle Race that was held in the summer. Who exactly is this "queen of sports"? Almost every Tomoeda resident has heard of her. Some worship her while some despise her. Older residents admire her as the younger residents idolize her. Her peers categorize themselves into "those who fear", "those who respect", "those who suck up", "those who secretly despise", "those who are friends", "those who are close friends", or "those who are stupid enough to challenge". Her name, you ask? The subject of this editorial is none other than—_

_­_"Excuse me, can I borrow your pen? It'll just—"

The poor sixteen year old soul tensed up at the distinctly familiar voice. Raising her dark eyes, the frightened soul began to tremble slightly. As soon as the writer realized just who the borrower of her pen was, she stood up from the park bench and bolted away. It's hard to believe but all of that happened under a measly minute.

"--be a second…"

'Quick reaction time', she mused. The borrower of the pen sighed dejectedly as she bent down and picked up the shiny, green fountain pen that was left behind. Looking towards the beautiful sunset, the pen borrower allowed herself to be lost in her thoughts. It wasn't until a seemingly rude passerby crashed into her a few minutes after, that she regained her consciousness. "What a bother." the passerby hissed. She glared at the leaving back of the passerby with a large suitcase in hand. "How rude!" she hissed back.

A few meters away, the passerby stopped and stiffened. Turning his head almost robotically, he locked eyes fiercely with the pen borrower. She, of course, returned the heated glare equally. Nothing got to her nerves more than plain rudeness.

"Sakura? Where are you?" a melodic voice called out in the fast-approaching darkness.

Sakura dropped out of their heated eye-lock as she turned to the source of the voice. "Coming!"

The pen borrower, now known as Sakura, turned back at the passerby. The park lights flickered on, one by one, highlighting their surroundings and their own selves. They both stood their ground, eyes locked with each other again. Sakura scrunched up her nose (cutely) before sticking her tongue out. She then trotted towards a silhouette, which was the source of the voice, in the distance.

This, of course, left the passerby with no one but the flickering park lights and the slowly appearing heavenly bodies in the bleak dark sky. Fuming over the fact that someone had the guts to defy him, he growled. He turned around to the direction where he was originally headed and continued walking, subconsciously fingering the shiny, green fountain pen in his trench coat pocket. "Stupid idiot."

* * *

"No, no, no, no! Not again!" 

Almost tearing the doors open to the entrance of Seijou High School from their hinges, a white and blue blur rushed to the second floor of the building. Jumping over a few steps to avoid the wet trail of soap suds on the stairway, Sakura straightened her Seijou High uniform. Blouse, blazer, necktie, pleated skirt, knee-high socks, shoes. Yup! All—her wide, unbelieving eyes locked onto her black, outdoor shoes—there. Sakura skidded into a stop in front of classroom 2-5. Quickly fishing out her extra indoor shoes from her messenger bag, which she prepared just for cases like this, she wore them just as hastily.

She slid the classroom door open and entered, eyes trained on the ground. "Sensei!" her voice held a sense of urgency, "I'm really sorry for my tardiness… I'm not going to say it'll never happen again because I know it will but… Please forgive me!" She bowed lower, if it was even possible. A few more inches and her head would've hit the floor!

Silence.

"Ah, Kinomoto-san… You're just in time to meet another transfer student."

"Another one?" she questioned quietly. Sakura glanced at the back of the classroom, setting her sights on the first transfer student who arrived in the whole school year… the overly cheerful-looking Eriol Hiiragizawa who was currently waving at her… _very_ obviously.

The homeroom teacher coughed. "It's good to see how happy you are to see Kinomoto-san, Hiiragizawa. But you can put down your hands now."

She saw Eriol happily put down his hands. Sakura couldn't shake off the feeling that he looked happier than usual, as she also observed with every female classmate of hers. Even Tomoyo, her best friend who was seated in front of Eriol, looked happier than usual… well… actually… it was more like, more evil than usual. Those stars in her eyes always made Sakura raise her guard a _tad_ bit.

"Everybody, this is to be your new classmate."

Sakura slowly eased up as she looked at the new transfer student perplexedly. He looked _very_ familiar. Passing through the back of the class, she sat down on her seat beside Tomoyo and continued gazing at the transfer student perplexedly. Sakura cocked her head to the side as she realized the transfer student was looking awfully annoyed at Eriol. That glare…

"His name is Li Syaoran, and he's from Hong Kong. Let's all give him a warm welcome, shall we?" The class stood up, by command of the class representative, and bowed. "Welcome to Seijou High! We hope that we'll all get along!" And with another command by the class representative, the students all sat down.

"There's an empty seat behind Kinomoto-san, Li. You can sit there."

Her emerald eyes followed the new transfer student's movements as he made his way to the seat behind her. He _really_ did look familiar. Now where did she see this guy…? A few murmurs of awe (from the girls) and aggravation (from the boys) were heard as Syaoran passed them smoothly, seemingly ignoring their existence. As Sakura realized that this "Syaoran" guy had just basically ignored everybody except the homeroom teacher and Eriol, she came to a conclusion that he _definitely_ reminded her of someone. The atmosphere of arrogance wrapping around him was just so familiar…

The teacher cleared his throat. "And now, could everybody please redirect their attention to the front of the classroom? I have important announcements to make, it'd probably be better if you write these down…"

Deciding that she couldn't take the tension anymore (and that she was too bored to take down the announcements anyway), Sakura turned to Syaoran with a smile. "Hey there! Welcome to our class! You know, you really look familiar. Have me met?"

Sakura watched as his expression remained impassive. Her eyebrows furrowed… then she caught sight of the shiny, green fountain pen in his hand. She let out an outraged gasp, which prompted everyone within hearing distance to see what was going on. So _that's_ why this guy looked so familiar!

"You're that stupid, rude guy that stole my pen!"

* * *

I'm back my lovelies! Did you miss me? _: readers hiss ruthlessly :_ Aw… I missed you guys too! Come 'ere and give Ya-kun a huggle! _: readers growl and bare their teeth : …_Ok! Maybe next time then! It's the prologue, so it being short is understandable, right? So… yeah! Read and review, pretty please? 

Oh and, advance happy birthday Sakura-chan! _: starts writing your gift!fic :_


	2. Oh so Troublesome

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Card Captor Sakura. Story, characters and such are solely owned by the wonderful, talented and beautiful women of CLAMP, namely Tsubaki Nekoi, Ageha Ohkawa, Satsuki Igarashi, and Mokona. I love them so. The CCS manga series in Japan was published by Kodansha.

**Ready, Set, Game!**  
By: Ya-kun

**Summary**: Are guys really better than girls in sports? Forcefully erasing this belief by proving herself repeatedly, the queen of sports is deemed invincible. Well, that is, until a guy arrived and beat her sorry derrière. It's an all out match and the 2 competitors have no plans of giving up, even if it means destroying any chances of a beautiful relationship. Let the games begin!

* * *

**CHAPTER I:** Oh so Troublesome 

As soon as the students heard the bell ring—therefore signaling the end of the homeroom period—they let out collective sounds of woe. Now that homeroom was over, they had to deal with the real serious and difficult stuff. The class representative let out another command as she stood up, making the rest of the students stand up to bid their homeroom teacher goodbye. Sitting down on his seat as soon as the class representative instructed them to, Eriol stretched languidly in his seat.

Humming happily to himself, Eriol seemed to miss the tension between two certain individuals seated beside him. A moment flitted by before Eriol decided he was tired of humming the "Moonlight Sonata" (in a disturbingly accurate manner). He barely stopped himself from continuing on to the fourth movement. Yawning, Eriol rested his arms on his desk, providing support for his head as he relaxed completely.

Tomoyo shifted in her seat to observe them more comfortably. Sakura was hunched over her desk, the intense movement of her arms and hands indicating that she was probably writing or drawing something bad about Li-san. Transferring her observant gaze to the stiff Syaoran behind her best friend, Tomoyo tilted her head to the side in mild wonderment. So _he _was the guy Sakura was talking about last night. Facing the front once again, but glancing at them at the corner of her eye from time to time, Tomoyo placed a finger to her lips as her face took on an expression of being in deep thought.

Sakura bit her lip, which was what she normally did when she was in deep concentration, as she drew his pointy tail. That'll teach him to steal her stuff. Straightening her body, she admired her work with a proud smile. About to store her math notebook in her bag, Sakura was taken by surprise when a hand shot out to grab it. Immediately turning to face the culprit, she directed him with a heated glare.

"Give it back."

"Hn." Syaoran leaned back farther into his chair, narrowly avoiding her furious swipes and attempts of retrieving her notebook, as he viewed the various doodles. Raising an eyebrow at the disconcerting accuracy of his appearance, he suppressed a smirk at the devil horns and tail drawn onto him. Spotting another doodle at the lower corner of the page, he couldn't help but laugh.

"Heh."

Tomoyo, who had seen and heard the whole exchange, guessed that "Heh" was as closest to a laugh Li was ever going to do. Sakura paused in her attempts of getting her notebook back as she heard him let out one syllable of amusement. "…What is it?" She watched as he brought out _her_ green fountain pen and started to write something down on that certain page. Scrunching her eyebrows, she hesitantly took back the notebook when he handed it back to her.

She faced front, at the same time reading the neat writing at the bottom of her notebook. Sakura went over her drawing: a chibi Syaoran running away with _her_ shiny, green fountain pain with a chibi portrait of herself chasing after him. She gaped slightly as soon as the words sunk in.

…_Are you sure it's the pen you're chasing after?_

Sakura rounded on him as she whispered "Yes I'm sure it's the pen I'm chasing after!" as dangerously and intimidating as she could despite the angry (or was it embarrassed?) flush on her cheeks. Hearing someone clearing their throat beside her, she raised her head up to meet her teacher… her _math_ teacher. Almost everybody knew she hated math but… Hey! Wait a minute. This was so unfair! She frowned slightly, wondering why the class representative didn't give the command to stand up and greet the teacher and such. Glancing at the scary man, Sakura tilted her head to the side, again realizing why they call him the gingerbread man. Shaking her head mentally, she sat properly—hands, fingers intertwined on the table and all—looking every bit like an angel… or a kid who got caught with her hand in the cookie jar.

She watched as her teacher regarded her with questioning eyes before shifting his gaze behind her. Letting out a sigh of relief, she hid her math notebook under her desk before returning back to her original position. Too spaced out and relieved, Sakura only heard snippets of their conversation. Something about "being the king of spo—" …Wait, what? She grimaced. Maybe she needed to clean her ears or something. Yawning silently, she looked at the teacher as he made his way back to the front.

Tomoyo clenched her right hand into a fist before bringing it down on her free open palm. She now knew what she had to do. Eriol simply snored. It was only until a firm "Hiiragizawa!" a few seconds later did he wake up. A moment flitted by before Eriol was fully awake. Humming happily to himself, Eriol seemed to miss the tension between two certain individuals seated beside him.

* * *

Currently recess time (three periods after their homeroom), Syaoran had literally dragged Eriol past two levels upwards to the rooftop to interrogate him. The students who had seen them thought otherwise though. They were whispering something about "long lost (hot) friends reuniting" and the like. Raking a hand through his chestnut brown hair, Syaoran regarded Eriol with a half hearted glare. "What exactly are you doing here Hiiragizawa?" 

Eriol perked up at the question, drinking some of the water from his water bottle before standing up and placing a hand on his companion's shoulder. "Honestly Syaoran, to think that we've known each other since we were still in diapers and yet you still insist on calling me by my family name!"

"…What exactly are you doing here Hiiragizawa?"

The dark haired boy grinned. "Shouldn't I be the one asking that Syaoran? After all, I came here first."

Syaoran scratched his head for a few seconds before it dawned on him. He pointed an accusing finger at his so-called friend while removing the Eriol's offending appendage—in this case, his right hand—from his shoulder. "You planned this, didn't you?"

Eriol shrugged. "I have no idea what you're talking about." Eating the last bit of his sandwich, he threw the wrapper into a trash can about two to three meters away. He grinned as he met Syaoran's eyes. "…Score." The amber eyed boy turned his head to the side with his nose pointing upwards to the sky in response.

The teasing words almost came out of his mouth… almost. Eriol looked to his left as the door—that served as the rooftop's entrance and exit—burst open. Four students, who looked more like hoodlums that anything else, approached them. The one with a ridiculous hairstyle—which seemed to defy the laws of gravity or perhaps consumed a big amount of hair gel or spray—who Eriol assumed to be the leader guffawed at the sight of both of them. Syaoran, more so than Eriol, was offended. And by offended, I mean pissed off.

Syaoran unconsciously readied himself into a fighting stance. "What do you want?"

The three lackeys and their leader snickered, unknowing of Syaoran's shift in stance, as they advanced towards the duo. "Don't worry kids. This is just an initiation all new students have to go through."

Seniors wouldn't think of getting into any trouble since they're already graduating. Freshmen like him we're still too "innocent" for this kind of thing. Eriol deduced that they were probably juniors. Eriol paused. He didn't have to go through some initiation when he arrived here… Why now? Raising an eyebrow, he yawned, stretching upwards and then to both sides. Shifting into a fighting position as well—though different from the one Syaoran was in—, Eriol smiled accompanied by his head tilting to the side. "Then let's get this over with, shall we? We have approximately eleven more minutes before the bell rings." He turned to his companion beside him. "Think you can handle it?"

Syaoran took off his uniformed light blue suit jacket before tossing it onto the bench. "Who do you think I am?"

Without even looking, Eriol knew he was smirking. Syaoran used his fingers to beckon the four into starting the fight. Seeing hesitation, he shrugged. "Guess we have to go first then." Syaoran mock charged towards them with a yell, scaring the heck out of them all.

"We're s-s-so-sorry! We're s-sorry! It w-was-s a joke! D-Don't hurt us…"

He shooed them off making them stumble down the stairs in their haste. Catching his tossed jacket in the air, Syaoran turned to an unimpressed Eriol. "I told you I could handle it."

**.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.**

Sakura paused, closing the door to the girls' comfort room slowly as she looked to her left. Four juniors were scrambling towards the stairwell, obviously rushing towards their respective classrooms. Taking another good look, she realized that they were part of her unofficial "fan club". What got them so riled up? Was it those bullies again? Sighing out of exasperation, she really hoped not. Determined to find out, she blocked their path, her hands together behind her.

"What's the matter?"

The four immediately stilled. "Kinomoto-chan!"

She smiled. "Are you guys alright? What happened?"

The leader of the group stepped forward and looked around nervously before inhaling deeply. "A guy… He tried to beat us up."

Sakura looked confused. "But I told everybody who I've already beaten not to bother you guys anymore when…"

"No, no, no Kinomoto-chan! He's a new guy. He's hanging out with that blue haired guy you're friends with."

She stilled. It couldn't be. He seemed like the type of person who couldn't hurt a fly even if he tried. He was so… scrawny. Sakura pursed her lips in deep thought. Or maybe she was just underestimating him? "…By any chance, does this guy have brown hair and amber eyes?" she paused as she held her hand up almost a head over her own. "…and about this tall?"

The group nodded in chorus. Sakura thanked them with a smile as she walked towards her classroom and slid the door open. Ah, I mean _almost_ slid the door open. Coming into contact with someone's skin so suddenly, she immediately used her free hand to hit any part of that person's body out of pure reflex. Syaoran caught her hand just in time.

Her eyes widened disbelievingly as Syaoran let go of both her hands. He mumbled an apology before sliding the door open himself, this time. Sakura watched as he entered their classroom halfway... before she crouched down quickly and used her right leg to kick him off his feet. She watched in part awe and in part displeasure as he jumped over her leg just before it came into contact with his own. Sakura stood up almost regally.

"Fight me."

Syaoran regarded her with a slightly bothered gaze. "I don't fight girls."

She shifted into a fighting stance, a stance—Syaoran realized—he had yet to encounter. "Fight me."

A few moments passed and Syaoran still had no plans of giving in. The bell signaling the end of recess time rang, disrupting Sakura and Syaoran's staring competition. Syaoran shrugged as he made his way to his desk, ignoring the awed and pitiful looks he got from his classmates. He heard some of the girls muttering that he was one of those who were stupid enough to challenge. Raising an eyebrow, he thought about how weird his classmates were. He wasn't stupid and for sure he wasn't the one who insinuated the challenge.

Syaoran watched as Sakura made her way, albeit a bit stiffly, to the seat in front of him. As she sat down in front of him and as the whole class waited for their next subject teacher, Syaoran quietly wondered what was so special about Sakura Kinomoto.

* * *

**Face the Facts: **Yes! The first clash of wills! If you'd look closely, you'd see that there is discrimination/bullying against the groups who either like, dislike, respect, fear, etc. Sakura. Oooh… the _drama_. XD Just to explain some basic facts, there are three year levels in Japanese high schools; the students can be divided as freshmen, juniors and seniors. If you haven't noticed, Sakura, Tomoyo, Eriol and Syaoran are freshmen meaning they're more or less sixteen or seventeen years old (depending on when their birthday is because the story timeline is currently in May). Sakura and Syaoran might seem pretty bipolar now so I'll probably show their semi-permanent(?) characterization in the next chapter but they're pretty two-faced so I don't know how to go with this yet. And yes, Syaoran still doesn't know about the whole Queen of Sports thing XP. Questions will be happily entertained. Suggestions, constructive criticism, reviews make me feel all warm inside. 

**A/N:** Thank you for all the reviews guys! Ahaha. I forgot how addictive it was to write stories XP. If you want to reach me easily, please just visit my livejournal which link is at the bottom of my bio in my profile or just visit my homepage! Hope you liked the first chapter! (I mean, that's almost two thousand words baby! XD I only needed twelve words more. Haha.) I'm getting started on the first chapter of my "The Hunter and The Wolf" as well!


	3. Off that Pedestal

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Card Captor Sakura. Story, characters and such are solely owned by the wonderful, talented and beautiful women of CLAMP, namely Tsubaki Nekoi, Ageha Ohkawa, Satsuki Igarashi, and Mokona. I love them so. The CCS manga series in Japan was published by Kodansha.

**Ready, Set, Game!**  
By: Ya-kun

**Summary**: Are guys really better than girls in sports? Forcefully erasing this belief by proving herself repeatedly, the queen of sports is deemed invincible. Well, that is, until a guy arrived and beat her sorry derrière. It's an all out match and the 2 competitors have no plans of giving up, even if it means destroying any chances of a beautiful relationship. Let the games begin!

* * *

**CHAPTER II:** Off that Pedestal 

The door to Syaoran's house closed behind him automatically as if the door had sensed that its master could not be bothered with such trivial things as closing the door due to a long, busy week at his new school. Or maybe it was because Wei, Syaoran's butler (Syaoran did not like calling Wei as his butler and it always left a bitter taste on his tongue when he had to), was there to close the door for him. But the author digresses.

Syaoran loosened his necktie until it was hanging on his neck in an unkempt fashion and unbuttoned the first two buttons on his polo, sighing as he did so.

"Another long day at school, master Syaoran?" Wei questioned kindly as he assisted in removing the light blue blazer hanging from Syaoran's shoulders.

A nod and a small sound of affirmation from Syaoran was all he got.

Wei took his leave in order to prepare some afternoon snacks just as Syaoran plopped face-first on the living room sofa, grabbing one of the several plush pillows. He tossed and turned around relentlessly, trying to quash the ever-growing frustration he felt for a certain green-eyed pain in the neck.

"I swear, if she doesn't stop trying to attack me…"

He sat up and tried to clear his mind—it had been a long week and he wouldn't have that idiot denying him of his weekend vacation—as he leaned back on the sofa until he felt more comfortable. Hearing footsteps nearing him, Syaoran closed his eyes and allowed himself a moment of relaxation as the aroma of hot chocolate drifted to his nose.

"Wei,"

Wei placed a coaster on the coffee table before setting down the mug of steaming hot chocolate on it, as well as a plate of several confections that would have made any man's mouth water, before turning to his charge and replying with a "What is it, master Syaoran?"

"There's this girl…"

It took Wei a lot of effort to stop the smile threatening to break out on his face.

"She's been demanding that I 'fight' her."

The word 'fight' was said suspiciously because, truly, there has never been a girl that demanded a fight from Syaoran. Syaoran was a Li and his clan was famous for being one of the most influential and rich clans in the world. Therefore, if there was anything demanded from him by someone of the opposite sex, it was anything but a fight.

Syaoran narrowed his eyes at nothing in particular as he continued. "All week, that girl has been punching me and kicking me."

'Or, at least, trying to.'

"Perhaps, it's just a rather unorthodox way of getting your attention, master Syaoran."

"At first, that was what I thought too. But then all these people approach me and they were in awe of either my bravery or my so-called idiocy for challenging the" Syaoran rolled his eyes mentally "queen of sports."

"If you are so bothered by this girl, young master, then why don't you simply fight her?"

"Because, Wei, she's a _girl. _You _know_ I wasn't raised to fight girls."

Syaoran knew that it was true and therefore, he could not fight Kinomoto, no matter how much of a celebrity she is. He had last fought against a girl when he was a child and it did not turn out well, for the girl, that is. Syaoran was too strong for a girl like Kinomoto or any other girl, for that matter, to take him on and succeed. (His reluctance to fight girls also stems from the fact that Syaoran cannot stand a girl crying but Syaoran would rather treat Eriol pleasantly than admit that)

"But then, this girl would still be demanding a fight from you, right, young master?"

Syaoran sighed, nodding. "That's my problem."

"If you can't beat them, join them, master Syaoran."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, since you can't fight her directly, maybe you can just fight other people and be the _king_ of sports. That way, young master, in a way, you have her beat."

Syaoran narrowed his eyes, "That wasn't funny, Wei." But of course, it was done only in a joking manner. Syaoran could never truly be mad at the man who has been taking care of him since his birth in his parents' stead.

The smile that always seemed to be on Wei's face widened a bit as he apologized yet with no trace of remorse on his face. It was moments like this that made their somewhat father-son relationship all the more pleasant.

**.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.**

"I'm going out for a walk, Wei." Syaoran announced moments later, the empty mug and equally empty plate already washed and kept in its rightful place, as he headed for the front door. He had already changed into more comfortable wear: a simple t-shirt, sweater, jogging pants and he stopped momentarily at the entrance to put on his rubber shoes.

He twisted the doorknob and pulled it towards him. "When Eriol comes by, tell him I wish he—"

Coming face to face with Eriol was not on top of the list (well, actually, it wasn't on the list _at all_) of what Syaoran wanted to experience during his walk. He made a face in what could be identified as a grimace,

"Syaoran! This is perf—"

And slammed the door.

"Open this door right now and let me in, Syaoran!"

He sighed, running a hand through his hair and grumbled as he reluctantly opened the door after a few minutes since Eriol didn't seem to have any plans of stopping being a complete moron and disturbing the peace.

Eriol practically skipped into the house, smiling all the way "I knew you couldn't resist me for long, Syaoran."

"You wish, Hiiragizawa." Syaoran glared at Eriol and was about to close the door when a hand shot out from nowhere and stopped Syaoran from closing it accompanied with an indignant, familiar and, Syaoran realized with dread, feminine "Hey!"

Syaoran opened the door fully, grumbling because he knew if he closed the door he would be subject to another round of someone being a complete moron, and barely dodged the punch coming his way.

"Why do you keep on dodging, Li?"

"Well, why do _you_ insist on attacking me all of a sudden, Kinomoto?"

Syaoran crossed his arms over his chest as he stood in front of them, them being Sakura Kinomoto and Tomoyo Daidouji. He looked over to Tomoyo—she was the sane one—and addressed his question to her "What are you girls doing here?"

Tomoyo bowed her head politely and greeted him a good afternoon before answering his question "Hiiragizawa-kun invited us over."

Syaoran was obviously taken aback by her answer because 'What the hell? This is _my_ house.' He opened his mouth, ready to shoo them away but was interrupted by Eriol and his "Come on in, ladies."

'Stupid Eriol.'

Tomoyo managed to slip by him and enter his house but Sakura was still standing in front of him, mirroring his stance perfectly with her arms crossed over her chest as well. She raised an eyebrow at him—and was that just his mind playing tricks on him or did she look a bit embarrassed?

"Well, aren't you going to let me in?"

**.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.**

The four teenagers were all settled in Syaoran's living room, Syaoran and Eriol seated on their own armchair and the two girls seated together on the couch. Wei had prepared some snacks for the three visitors and mirrored Sakura's bright smile when she thanked him repeatedly for them.

"So, you're probably wondering what we're doing here." Eriol said as he set his mug down on the coffee table and leaned back on the armchair.

"You think?" Syaoran muttered, mostly to himself, his arms still crossed over his chest.

"Li-san, we came here to negotiate."

Syaoran glanced at Tomoyo, her hands resting on her lap very much like a lady, and was unnerved by the stars in her eyes which made her seem not so much like a lady.

"Negotiate." Syaoran narrowed his eyes. "What exactly are we negotiating about?"

"Me." Sakura piped up.

Syaoran stilled, and gaped, and, as time passed, spluttered unintelligently. He felt his face growing warm. "Wh-What do you mean y-_you_?"

Sakura, realizing how what she said sounded and how Syaoran interpreted it, went right away to spluttering indignantly, her face turning as red as Syaoran's. "Idiot! I-I didn't m-mean _me_ me—"

"Tch. B-Besides, why would anyone ever want you?"

"Wh-What! Well, right back at you Li!"

"Ohoho."

Eriol cleared his throat and successfully got the attention of the three other people in the room. He ignored the glares directed at him from Syaoran and Sakura, as they _were_ misplaced ones, and waited for Tomoyo to turn off her camcorder.

"Let's get back to business, shall we?"

Simply by the smile on Eriol's face, Syaoran knew he would not like this at all.

**.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.**

"What do you think, Li-san?"

"Let me get things straight. You guys want _me_ to fight _you._" Syaoran pointed at himself and to Sakura. "But fight, as in compete with each other in sports competitions." The three other teenagers nodded. "And if I win more competitions than Kinomoto does, I become the, uh,"

"King of sports." The three chorused.

"Right."

"Is that a yes or a no, Syaoran?"

Eriol, Tomoyo and Sakura's eyes were glued to Syaoran as they waited for his decision. He was pretty quiet when Eriol, Tomoyo and occasionally, Sakura discussed the terms of the negotiation that Sakura wondered if he was actually listening.

Syaoran stood up, took a deep breath and…

"Of course it's a _no_!"

"What! Why?"

"I don't see the point of all of this. You. _You._" Syaoran pointed to Sakura, who was now standing up as well, "You're not the queen of sports. You're the queen of _idiots_! You _really_ think that you're the best just because you got lucky and won a few sports competitions?"

Sakura took one step back as if Syaoran had just hit her physically before she took two steps forward, "I wasn't just lucky, you big jerk, I won those competitions because _I did my best_!"

"I don't even _want_ to be king of sports!" Syaoran went towards Sakura and was only mildly surprised when Sakura met him halfway. "Look, Kinomoto, I'm not sure what's wrong with your head. Or maybe I do. Maybe it's because all this 'queen of sports' stuff screwed it up. Or maybe it's because you were born that way? Maybe it's because your mom and dad were both mental—"

Syaoran noticed Sakura lifting an open hand to slap him and scoffed inwardly, too busy with his thoughts to notice Sakura clenching that hand shut into a fist and that fist coming quickly towards his person until it hit him, right in the face. Syaoran staggered back 'Wow, that kind of hurt.' and, before he realized what he was doing, aimed a punch at Sakura's face too.

As soon as Syaoran heard Sakura's pained gasp, he went still and stared at his still clenched fist as if it was some kind of monster and as if he had nothing to do with the fact that Sakura was now probably crying like a baby. His head immediately shot up to see the damage. "I'm sor—"

He wasn't even finished with his apology when Sakura aimed a pretty strong punch to his stomach, one that made him feel as if the wind was knocked out of him.

"Li, you jerk! I'll get you for that!"

Syaoran stopped another fist coming his way, gripping it with his larger hand and effectively twisting Sakura's arm and body around, her back to his chest, and locking his free arm around her shoulders. "That was one sneaky move, Kinomoto."

"Oh yeah?" she laughed. "Well this one's even sneakier!"

He released his hold on her in surprise and she turned on him quickly, a sinister smile of amusement on her face and despite himself and the pain he felt, Syaoran felt the corners of his mouth twitching up as well. "Y-You _bit_ me!"

"Aw, are you going to cry now, Li?"

"_You're_ the one who's going to cry, little girl!"

"All bark and no bite, that's what you are, _jerk_!"

"Why, you!"

"_Both of you, stop fighting this instant!"_

**.x.x.x.x.x.x.x.**

"I'm very disappointed in you, master Syaoran."

"Hn."

Syaoran wasn't really listening since he was admittedly exhausted by the fight that lasted more than he expected. He opened his mouth experimentally since his jaw kind of hurt and flinched a bit when Wei took his left arm in order to tend to it.

He looked over to the other side of the living room; Sakura was being tended to by Tomoyo and Eriol, and his eyes scanned over her visible bruises. "Oi, Kinomoto."

Sakura was startled out of her reverie and she directed a glare at Syaoran. "What?"

"You suck. You hit like a girl."

"Wha—Are you trying to start another fight, jerk? And I _am_ a girl,_ stupid_."

"I'll do it. I'll compete with you."

All the other inhabitants of the room looked at Syaoran in surprise.

Sakura's eyes widened a bit before a somewhat smug smile appeared on her face. "What made you change your mind, Li? Perhaps you were impressed by how much _better_ I am compared to you?"

"Nah, you just really, _really_ suck." Though moving even just a bit made him want to scream out bloody murder, he shifted his position on the armchair before he continued, a smug smile coming on his face as well. "I'm going to whip you into shape, Kinomoto. I have no doubt I'll win all those competitions. But you know, since I'm such a nice guy and all, while I'm winning, I'll just help you become a better athlete like me."

"Oh my, I think I hit your head too hard, Li," Sakura said with fake concern "I mean, I _must_ have, with you spouting that kind of nonsense."

Their eyes met, and both could see the intense emotions hidden within.

Syaoran smirked, "You're going _down_, Kinomoto."

* * *

Uhm... Yeah. Confused? Me too :D 

Questions, suggestions, constructive criticism, reviews will be happily entertained.

Oh, and a HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE!

**Next Chapter: **

"You're an embarrassment to basketball players everywhere."


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